Bloody Sunday
by xChiyuki
Summary: There was once a woman who loved a man so much that she was willing to forgive all of his shortcomings and evils. She is the light in his dark soul, the only thing that reminded him that he was human. Even throughout this man's reign of terror, one that spanned nearly a hundred years, she never left his side, not until the end. Dio/OC. Part I: ongoing.
1. prologue: before the fall

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure  
Bloody Sunday  
Prologue: Before the Fall (Part 0)

Dio Brando was not always an evil person.

Once, he was a kind-hearted boy with good intentions. Once, he was a boy who paid attention to the difference between right and wrong. Once, he was someone who cared for others, even more than himself.

He tried his hardest to make those around him happy, those who he cared about deeper than anyone ever thought he was capable of. He did horrible things when he thought it was the only way to help those that he felt deeply for, and those people repaid him with the affection that his father never showed him.

Those who knew Dio well were few and far between.

Some say that there was only one person who ever truly knew the man who was once called Dio Brando - that person was Jonathan Joestar.

Those people would be wrong.

Jonathan Joestar's tumultuous relationship with Dio may have been one of the more well-known cases of Dio having any sort of working relationship with another person, but he certainly wasn't the only person.

After all, Jonathan only knew the man called "Dio Brando." He never knew the man that Dio would become a hundred years after Jonathan's death.

Others say that there was another man who knew Dio Brando, but not as Dio Brando. A Catholic priest named Enrico Pucci was a well-known friend and follower of the being eventually known as DIO, and was, perhaps, the only person to ever fully understand DIO as he was in those months, those years. He was the only person to ever empathize with DIO's great plans and large ambition, the things that swallowed the remainder of his humanity.

But still, he wasn't the only person to know DIO.

There was another person, one who has been lost to the history of the Joestar family, one whose story never coincided with the Joestar's, whose path never crossed with theirs. Because that person was only a small blip in the big story, the war against Dio Brando and the monster that he would eventually allow himself to become, their name and their story were lost to history, only remembered by those who knew them.

Her name was Ava Shelley, and she was the girl that Dio Brando sought to protect, even through his descent into madness.

* * *

Ava Shelley was never a powerful person.

She was poor and weak, unable to protect herself or anyone else. She was kind, sometimes too kind, and she was easily taken advantage of. She was a coward and a cry-baby, always resorting to flight when her other option was to fight.

But she was the one that always reminded Dio of the man he used to be, even if he was trying to reject that person.

There was nothing remarkable about her, but she was a person that was hard to forget.

It was no easy feat to tame the demon that was Dio.

Very little remains of her. The records that show that she existed have long been destroyed, burned down in a fire in London in 1988. Her grave site has been desecrated, her headstone missing and her name forgotten. Every official record that Ava Shelley ever existed has been destroyed.

Except for one.

* * *

Jotaro Kujo dug through his grandfather's photo albums, ones that the young marine biologist had inherited after the last Joestar had passed away the previous year, erasing the name from records permanently.

Each album was dated with a year.

Some were filled with photographs that helped the late Joseph Joestar remember the people he'd loved most in his final months. He'd had photos from their adventure to Egypt nearly twenty years prior, photos of those people from his time as a teenager in Italy and America, and photos of the people who'd raised him and the people he raised.

Jotaro remembered most of those people, even if he had never met them.

The pretty woman with long, black hair from the 1938 album was Elizabeth Joestar, Joseph's mother. There was a picture of Shizuka, who was now nineteen, in the 2005 album. There were photos of Suzie Q from 1938 until her death in 2003. Kakyoin, Avdol, and Iggy were all immortalized in the photographs from 1989.

But there were older albums, still, buried beneath the ones Joseph has used to remember.

One was from 1887, the year before Dio's supposed death.

The very first picture that Jotaro looked at was of three teenagers, all standing in front of an oversized London mansion.

One of them was a tall, muscular, blue-haired man with kind eyes and a small smile on his face. Jotaro knew him as Jonathan, his great-great grandfather, one who'd died far too young.

On the other side of the photograph was an even taller, but less muscular man, a smirk instead of a smile on his face, his blond hair striking against the dark, London sky. Even young and dressed in Victorian-era garb, even without the red eyes that painted him as a vampire, Jotaro could recognize Dio.

Between the two was a much smaller, more feminine figure. She looked like a waif compared to the two giant men next to her. Her soft, silver hair fell to her shoulders, and she wore a sweet smile that brightened the entire mood of the photo.

Jotaro knew that this woman was Ava.

The photo was from before everything had happened, before the storm that had hung over the Joestar family arrived. It was evident by how inexplicably happy the trio looked, even if Dio wasn't smiling.

 _He looks almost human in this picture,_ Jotaro thought to himself. _He_ was _human in this picture. It was before he became a monster._

He flipped the page of the album, only to blink in mild confusion as an old envelope, well-worn, but also well-preserved, fell from the pages and onto the floor of his apartment. Placing the album down, he gingerly picked up the fragile paper and opened it, removing the letter inside.

The handwriting was soft and loopy, small and neat. It looked like the handwriting of a woman. At the very top of the page was the number 1888, the year that the letter had been written and delivered.

Eyes wide, Jotaro began to read, digesting the words of the writer.

 _My Dearest Jonathan,_

 _I know that this letter is probably pointless, but I wanted to explain things to you. I wanted you to know that what happened these past few weeks was no one's fault. And I also wanted you to know that Dio is not an evil person._

 _I remember reading a book a long time ago. It was one you loaned me when I first arrived at the mansion, saying that it seemed like something I would like to read. There was a quote in the book that I remember, even now, years later._

" _No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."_

 _Dio is not evil, and I can promise you that._

 _He may not be a good person. He is not even a neutral person. All I can say is that he is not evil, because I have seen this Dio before. I have known him for years, and he has never been evil. He has always been righteous._

 _Dio and I have had a long history. Not all of it has been happy, unlike the years I spent in the company of you and your family, who have taken care of us. I will not pretend to understand why Dio chose to do what he did, and I will not excuse it._

 _I will, however, say that I can understand him._

 _Please, Jonathan, if you can, find it in your heart to forgive Dio. He has done wrong things, but you are the closest thing to a true family he has ever had._

 _I know it is not and will never be an excuse._

 _But Dio needs you. Even if he no longer needs me, he needs you. He needs you to show him what goodness lies within people. He has to learn that not everyone is out to destroy him and threaten what he does have. He has never had things for his own, at least not for very long. Everyone and everything he has ever been able to call his own has disappeared before his eyes within moments._

 _Dio has always believed that power is the only thing that will keep the things he wants with him for longer than a fleeting moment. He has always wanted to do whatever it took to gain that power._

 _It sounds improbable, but remind yourself that you and he have had such vastly different lives. You have never had anything taken from you until Dio came along. Blaming him would not be wrong, but I ask that you understand why he struck against you._

 _Dio is not evil. He is just greedy._

 _I'm sorry for my part in all of this. I hope you can forgive me, as well._

 _With my whole heart,_

 _Ava._

Jotaro stared at the letter, amazed at how fiercely that Ava had defended Dio in her writing, her words so powerful that even he, with nothing but deep hatred for the man who nearly killed his mother and actually _did_ kill three of his friends, felt as if perhaps there was more to the despicable creature than just what he had seen.

Placing the letter down, Jotaro looked at the photographs again.

On the page that the letter had fallen from was a photo of Dio and Ava, one that was so very uncharacteristic of the blond vampire.

It looked like it was a winter day, snow falling around the two. The colors were heavily saturated, and Ava, in her white dress and with her silver hair, nearly blended into the background. But Dio, who held Ava in his arms, his eyes trained on only her, stood out against the almost monochrome background, his red cloak draped over the two of them.

But it was the look on Dio's face that made Jotaro take a second look at the photo. His eyes were gentle, almost loving, as he held her left hand in his, his right arm wrapped around her waist as she held the cloak over her shoulders.

The expression Dio wore was one that Jotaro had never dreamed that the man could wear.

He wondered what else he never knew about Dio. He wondered what other faces Dio never showed to his enemies. If Jotaro wasn't looking at proof, staring it directly in the face, he would still refuse to believe it.

Unable to understand it, he replaced the letter in the pages of the album, carefully closing it.

Dio was gone, along with everything he ever was.

Photographs were just memories without meaning.

What he looked like in one moment to one person didn't matter in the end. He wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

Jotaro would never know what he was like in these moments.

And he didn't care to.

After all, a dead man couldn't feel anything.

* * *

 _Notes:_

 _Welcome to **Bloody Sunday** , the first in my series of JJBA fanfiction. I'm really excited to start this series.  
I don't want people to go into this thinking that I'm going to make Dio a good guy, or change his heart or whatever.  
I just really disliked Phantom Blood's handling of cardboard characters, because I feel like going into more backstory is always a good idea,  
especially with people like Dio. So I wanted to give him more of a backstory, and that includes making him a bit more human, I suppose?  
Not sure how to explain it, but I also really wanted to keep it in the spirit of Part I, especially towards the end.  
_

 _Anyways, I'll also be going through to Part III as well, and I'll probably cover the 100 years between Part I and Part III.  
I hope that you enjoy this series!_

 _Thanks,_

 _Chiyuki_


	2. part i, chapter i

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure  
Bloody Sunday  
Chapter 01: Part I, Chapter I

Not every fairy tale starts with the words "once upon a time," just like not every fairy tale ends with a "happily ever after."

The tale of Dio Brando started as a tragedy.

Born into a household run by a greedy alcoholic, he grew up never knowing the love that a father could have for a son. For five years, the only love he ever knew was that of his mother, Christine. She loved him and cared for him the way a parent should have, even though he could always tell that she was suffering behind that smile of hers.

She was the only person that Dio had cared about, learning from his father at a very early age.

Until he was seven years old, that is.

* * *

Dio left his run-down apartment one morning, only to see a little girl with nice clothes and good posture leaning against the door of the apartment next to his, a large satchel clutched in both hands. Her face was small and pale, and she looked to be around the same age as he was.

He wasn't quite sure what it was, but as his eyes trained on her, he found himself trying to figure out exactly what kind of person she was. Everything about her appearance screamed that she was some sort of noble, but the way she was refusing to react to the horrible things happening around her, things that were normal for the slums of London, told him that she was the same as him - a child growing up in the worst circumstances.

She didn't look at him as he approached.

"Who are you?"

It wasn't a question as it left his lips. It was, instead, a demand as he glared down at her with his red eyes, ones that were mature and serious for his age.

She didn't look up at him. Her only response was to pull her long, silver hair out of her face as she looked down at her shoes instead. Her grip on the bag tightened as she made an active attempt to avoid his eyes.

Unamused, Dio moved so he was in her line of sight, where she was unable to avoid looking at him. "I asked who you are," he drawled in his soft, almost threatening tone.

"Why would you ask me? Isn't it best to mind your own business around here?"

He was a bit taken aback by her cold tone, but what surprised him even more was how blue her eyes were. They were like ice as she glanced down at him, nothing but dismissiveness in her eyes.

"I'm asking because I want to know what kind of person is near me. I don't want anyone around who will cause trouble for me," he responded just as coldly.

She huffed, turning her head completely to glare at the open streets of London. "I'm Ava. Ava Shelley," she finally said. She seemed reluctant to even give him her name. "Now, will you please leave me alone?"

Dio was not persuaded by her grinding out her name.

"You don't look like you're from around these parts. Where are you really from?" He stood up straight, proudly towering over the smaller girl. She simply looked up at him, no emotion in her crystalline eyes.

She stared at him, red meeting blue as they both refused to take their suspicious glares off each other. After a few moments that seemed like an eternity, she finally looked away from him, her gaze trained on her hands instead of on him. Her grip on the bag tightened once again, and he found himself curious as to what was inside of it.

He could see her shoulders tense as she curled in on herself, making herself smaller. It was something that Dio had seen his mother do many times when faced by his father when he was going to hurt her.

"It's none of your business," she managed quietly.

Her hands began to shake around the bag she held, and Dio couldn't help but think of his mother, who always told him that he shouldn't be like his father, that he should never make another person submit by using fear.

Remembering her words, Dio moved away from Ava, backing up a few steps, enough to give her space. She looked at him, the first emotion he saw finally sparking in her eyes.

"How old are you?" he asked quietly, trying to make himself sound a bit softer than he had before.

At the question and at his tone, the young girl relaxed a bit, her dangerous grip around the neck of her bag loosening a big. She stood up, no longer leaning against the door. "I'm seven. I'm turning eight in a few months." She paused for a moment, then quickly added, "What about you?" like she had just remembered her manners.

"Eight. I'll be nine soon enough though," he bragged proudly.

Knowing that the boy, who was much too tall for a boy who was only seven, was around her age, Ava relaxed even more. Her tense shoulders fell quite a bit, and she appeared to be more open with Dio.

"So, where are you from? I meant what I said before," Dio began. "You don't seem like you're from around these parts." He gestured to her figure, whose posture and clothing were unlike anything one would see in the slums.

She fidgeted a bit, hesitating. After a few moments, in which Dio waited patiently, thinking on what the girl would say, Ava opened her mouth to answer him.

"Ava!" She froze, quickly turning away from Dio to face the man who was angrily staggering towards the two children. "You stupid girl, what are you doing outside?! I told you to go in and not wait up! Why don't you listen?!"

Once again, her body began to curl in on herself, her entire being shrinking back as the man approached. Dio immediately knew who this man was.

The apartment next door to him had long been occupied by a man his mother had warned him about for years. The man was well-known as a monster who had been accused of sexually assaulting several children in the neighborhood he'd previously lived in. He'd been exiled into the slums by his family, who'd been ashamed when they'd discovered what he'd done.

" _A man like that should be in prison,"_ his mother always said. _"He's the type of person you should never go anywhere near. Promise me, Dio. You'll keep away from him as long as you're alive."_

" _Then, why isn't he in prison, mother?"_ he'd asked one day.

" _Because sometimes, the words of children simply aren't enough to make a man guilty."_

This man had the same dangerous aura as Dio's father did, and just that was enough to make Dio hate him. Despite the fact that this was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on his neighbor, it was more than enough for Dio's head to scream that he _hated_ his neighbor, nearly as much as he hated his own father.

"U-Uncle… I'm sorry…"

A small voice from next to him drew his attention, and Dio turned, somewhat shocked to see that the stoic girl who'd been so on guard before was so afraid now.

"I… The-the door was locked when I got here," she muttered. "There was no-nothing I could do… A-and you didn't give me a key, so…"

"Don't make excuses!" the man, now known as Ava's uncle, snapped. "You could've gotten in if you wanted to! You just didn't want to try, did you, you ungrateful bitch?!"

Ava moved even further away, her back hitting the door of her uncle's apartment, her hands shaking as her eyes darted all around, looking for some sort of escape. "I… I…" Her eyes landed on Dio as she glanced away, desperation in her gaze as she seemed to silently beg him for help.

Dio stood still for a moment, as if he was debating on if he could help the girl in front of him.

As he hesitated, the man moved even closer to Ava, who had nowhere left to run. She shook, fear in her clear, crystal eyes, when she looked up at her uncle, who glared down at her with nothing but pure hatred.

"Get inside," he growled, so dangerously that Dio was sure he'd never seen anyone more frightened by two words than Ava was by those. Her shoulders shook even more violently as he reached for her.

Seeing the fear that he'd seen so often from his mother in someone else's eyes, Dio couldn't help his instinctive reaction.

"Sir." He stepped forwards, moving to push Ava back and behind him. He could hear her gasp softly, gratefully. "I was just talking with Ava here, and I learned she's new in the neighborhood, correct?" He tried to keep his voice calm, but his blood was boiling beneath his skin.

The man, clearly angered by Dio's sudden interruption, let his hand drop to his side. "So?" he sneered. "What's it to you, brat?"

Dio stood up even straighter, using his already somewhat intimidating glare to his advantage. "I was just hoping I could show Ava around this part of town. I wouldn't want her to get lost, since she's clearly been wandering around alone."

He could feel Ava's small fingers clinging to the back of his vest. Normally, it would bother him. He hated when people touched him.

But this girl, who he'd only just met, was asking him to help her.

She was so desperate for someone who would help to protect her from the man in front of them that she would turn to a complete stranger.

And Dio understood.

His mother was afraid of everything thanks to her father. She relied on Dio, her eight-year-old son, who was just a child, barely even able to understand anything besides the idea that his father was a dangerous man.

Maybe Dio was just a reliable person, someone who seemed like he could stand up to those who would threaten others.

Or maybe it was because he knew how to handle men like this.

"Sir. Your niece is living in a dangerous part of London now," he reasoned, appealing to the narcissistic tendencies that he knew men like this held. "You don't want to be seen as someone who's incapable of caring for her, right? After all, what would people say? Especially with what they already say about you."

He saw the man's hand twitch for a moment, like he was eager to strike Dio for his words. But he did nothing, and Dio knew it was because of where they were - in the open, in the streets of London.

Even if it wasn't a place of high status, many still cared about money and appearance.

This man was no exception.

Ava's uncle clicked his tongue a bit as he backed away from the two children, looking convinced by the boy's words.

"Do what you like," he drawled, backing away.

Dio watched with some sort of almost sick satisfaction as the man unlocked his front door and pushed through, sufficiently defeated by the wit of a boy a mere fraction of his age. He didn't move, merely kept his eyes on the man as the door swung shut behind him.

He could feel Ava's entire body relax as she stood behind him, her grip on his shirt loosening enough to the point that she stepped back, a little bit away from him. He turned as she did so, only to see her looking down at the ground, shuffling her feet, as if embarrassed by her reliance on him.

"That man… he's your uncle?" he asked quietly.

Ava nodded, looking sadly at him. "My parents died in a storm. He took me in." Her voice shook as reluctantly explained herself. "He's not… he's not a good person."

Looking away from her, towards the front door of her uncle's apartment, Dio allowed himself to understand why she wouldn't tell him these things. "So, I was right," he finally said. "You're not from around here, are you?" He glanced back at Ava, who was looking at him in surprise.

"You… you're not going to leave?" She blinked with wide, blue eyes. "Most people would refuse to get themselves involved with this kind of thing."

"Well, that doesn't matter to me. I still have questions for you."

Ava stared at him for a moment. "I'll answer one question a day," she decided suddenly. "In return, will you… will you help me stay away from my uncle?" Her tone had suddenly become desperate as she stared down.

There was a brief pause, in which Dio simply watched Ava as she fidgeted uncomfortably. A small smirk pulled at his lips, knowing that Ava was protecting herself on all fronts - either he stayed and helped protect her from her uncle, or he left and got none of his questions about her answered.

"Fine. I'll help," he replied as he began walking past her.

He could hear Ava turn around behind him. "W-wait, where are you going?" she asked.

Stopping in his tracks, Dio turned around to look back at her. "I told your uncle that I'd show you around the neighborhood." When she hesitated, he allowed himself to show her a small smile. "What, would you rather find your own way around? Or stay here, with that uncle of yours?"

She hesitated for only another brief moment, then quickly moved to catch up with him.

"Um… I'm sorry, but I never got your name," she muttered lowly, like asking him for his name would anger him.

Dio looked down at her, once again intrigued by her small movements and her graceful posture, even as she glanced down and pulled her hair out of her face. He tore his gaze away from her and back towards the street they began to walk down.

"Dio Brando."

* * *

Dio Brando had all the makings of a villain, from the very beginning.

He was born into such unfortunate circumstances, with only a weakened mother to love him and protect him. His father was only ever in love with money and alcohol, but they weren't family.

The psychological torment that fighting for his life since birth had on him was irreversible. He was one of the cases that was doomed from the start, doomed to see the darkness in himself as the stronger part and to see hatred as his only option and ally. In fact, most people under his circumstances would have fallen much, much sooner.

From the time he was a child, Dio had the ability to begin walking down a dark path, one that would lead to murder. He could have always turned to crime and villainy to defend himself, to make life better and easier for him.

There were many reasons that he didn't walk down that path earlier.

One was his mother, a soft-hearted, but weak-willed woman who tried her best to defend her only child against the monster that was her husband. She had tried her very best to keep him from realizing just how dark his father's heart was. Even though she'd failed, Dio still loved her, and was willing to fight his own darkness to keep her happy and safe.

The other was his friend from the time they were children, a new girl in the neighborhood. She was mysterious and cold at first, but Dio learned that their circumstances weren't that different in the end.

He wasn't sure if he could say that he loved her, but he was sure that she was someone who would understand him. That was all he wanted in someone who would stay by him.

And until the time of his death, Ava stayed.


	3. part i, chapter ii

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure  
Bloody Sunday  
Chapter 02: Part I, Chapter II

Dio's mother had been weak for years.

When he was eleven, she was at her weakest, having been working for a long while, just to support her alcoholic husband and put a roof over her son's head, without any help from the man she'd married.

* * *

"How's your mother doing today?" Ava, his closest and only friend, asked as she handed him a plate of toast and eggs as he sat at her table. "Has anything been working for her?"

Dio took it gratefully. "Nothing so far. She's still sleeping. I don't think the medicine is working yet," he informed her softly as she sat across from him.

She looked worried as she picked up her fork. "And… how are you doing in your search?"

He paused for a moment. He thought back on how the previous day's job hunt had gone. Everywhere he looked, nowhere was looking for a child to work, now that child labor was slowly becoming illegal. And either way, none of the jobs that he was eligible for would have paid him anywhere _near_ enough for him to be able to help relieve pressure off his mother.

"Nothing so far," he admitted.

Ava nodded slowly, knowing exactly why Dio's search was slowly becoming fruitless, and why he was so desperate to find a job that fit his standards. She rubbed at her arm, which was covered by the long sleeve of her pale blue dress.

He noticed the way she held her arm tenderly, and his eyes narrowed. Quick as he could, he grabbed at her hand, trying his best to ignore her wince as he pulled her arm up.

"Dio, wait-!"

Ignoring her, he pulled her sleeve up her arm, revealing a bruise in the shape of a hand around her wrist. He glared at the purple handprint like it'd offended him, then moved his angry, golden eyes to a suddenly frightened-looking Ava.

"Did that bastard do this to you?" he demanded lowly, his painful grip on her hand loosening a bit, noting the relief on her face.

She hesitated for a moment, but then nodded reluctantly. "Yes. He was angry last night," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Even though she'd been hesitant, Dio had known as soon as he saw the handprint. It was an open secret among the neighborhood after nearly three years that Ava received regular beatings from her uncle. She was never bruised anywhere that people could see, but it was evident by the way she avoided being touched by others and never looked anyone in the eye.

After three years, Dio was the only person that Ava trusted.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" he demanded. Although his tone was soft, almost gentle, there was a burning anger in his eyes.

Ava nodded again, looking down in shame. She pulled her hand out of Dio's grip and slowly unbuttoned the top of her dress. Dio's eyes narrowed as he noticed the bruises on her chest and shoulders, ones that were in stark contrast to her pale skin. She refused to look at him, the corners of her mouth pulled down in a bitter frown.

Reaching out, Dio pulled Ava's dress back together, covering her shoulders and chest. "He did all this to you yesterday…" He was clearly growing angrier at his friend's uncle, angrier at the fact that he couldn't protect her.

She clung to her dress, holding it together with one hand as she fumbled with the buttons, trying to put her dress back together. Tears began to fall down her face, even though it was clear that she was attempting to fight them.

"Ava. Look at me."

When she slowly looked up at Dio, he could see the sadness and shame in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said, shaking her head. Her silver hair, which had grown long through the past three years. "We were talking about your mother, and that's so much more important than some stupid bruises, and…"

She trailed off as Dio placed his hand over her mouth, silently telling her to not talk. "It's not stupid. You are being hurt by a caretaker, and that's something not even anyone here would stand for."

Pulling away from his grasp, she shook her head again. "No one's going to do anything about it. They're all too busy protecting themselves," she replied sadly.

He knew that there was some truth to her words, even though he didn't want to believe them. When he was younger, he'd believed that people had some good in them, that they cared about what happened to others. He was proved wrong. His life in the slums hadn't always been easy. No one had been willing to help him, even when he was struggling.

People were selfish, and his life had proved that.

"I'm sure someone will help you," he tried.

Ava slowly shook her head once more. "No. No one's going to help me, and I don't want anyone's help, either." She looked sad and defeated, and Dio didn't quite like seeing what that sadness looked like.

* * *

He remembered the first time he'd seen evidence that she'd been beaten.

It was right after he'd turned nine. She was eight at the time, still young, and she'd been living with her uncle for only a few months, and had known Dio the entire time.

At first, he'd been reluctant to spend time with a girl he didn't know. For all it was worth, she could have been just another person in the slums who was selfish, and took advantage of those who were weaker and less fortunate.

But over time, it became clear that Ava was simply lonely, and desperate for protection.

Dio was the only candidate for friendship, as he was the only other child in the area. And he was the only one to ever see how her uncle treated her.

If Dio was being honest, he thought that the harsh words and the physical intimidation would have been the end of it. He doubted that a man like that would ever dream of trying to hurt his own flesh and blood.

He was wrong.

One morning, when they were supposed to go to the market together, Ava never showed up at the end of the street. He was angry at first, especially when he saw that her uncle had gone to work at the pub, the same one his father often frequented. But when he reached the unlocked apartment, a clear sign of arrogance on her uncle's part, his anger at her dissolved into hatred for her uncle.

Her body was lying in the kitchen area, only her undergarments left to cover her. She wasn't moving, which immediately sounded alarms in his mind. But as he approached, he saw the bruises on her back and arms.

There was no blood, which was a relief.

But the bruising was something that he'd never forget seeing.

The marks were dark, angry, and red, and they covered her back up and down. There was barely any of her skin that wasn't covered by some bruise.

As he knelt next to her, his mind going a mile a minute, he saw her eyes open, the usually vivid blue dull for the first time.

"D… Dio…" she managed, her voice so raspy that she could barely speak.

Her hand twitched, like she was trying to reach for him. He didn't move an inch, and her hand fell back to the floor after a moment. After she let out a shuddering breath, Dio practically ran from the apartment back to his own. He pushed the door open and yelled for his mother.

His mother helped without asking many questions, if at all. She allowed Ava to stay with the Brando family for a few nights, having Dio sleep on the floor as she helped to tend to the girl's bruises and wounds.

"Mother, shouldn't we go to the police?" he asked one night, right after Ava had gone to sleep.

She'd only shook her head sadly. "Dio, they don't care about people like us," she replied. "No one will lift a finger to help a little girl like this."

His heart sunk into his chest that day.

"Dio, promise me that you'll protect this little girl," she requested quickly after, looking him directly in the eyes. "Life isn't going to be easy for her. But I want you to be there to help make it a bit easier to bear."

Dio hesitated for a moment.

He didn't know what he was getting himself into. He didn't even know _how_ he could possibly help her. All he knew was that his mother was kneeling in front of him, holding both of his hands in hers, and begging him to help protect someone.

"Mother… why?" he asked, wanting to understand why he was being tasked with something so challenging, especially for a boy who was barely ten.

A weary smile tugged at her lips. "Because I don't want her to end up like me," she replied.

In that moment, Dio understood.

He knew that his father was an angry man. His mother made sure he knew when Dario Brando was angry, and when he was safe to be near. That was ingrained into him by now.

Ava's uncle was the same.

And so, he nodded.

"I promise."

* * *

He had yet to break that promise, two years later.

He couldn't always protect Ava from the beatings, give her an escape, but he could help make life a bit easier on her.

He managed to get her away from some of the beatings whenever he saw Ava and her uncle together. But sometimes, he wasn't as successful. Some days, he went to the apartment next door, only to find Ava either sleeping off a beating or sometimes unconscious when the previous night was particularly bad.

"I'm here," he said, hoping his voice sounded at least somewhat reassuring. "If you need my help, I'm here."

Ava's eyes flickered to glance up at him, filled with gratefulness, life returning once more to her blue eyes.

"Thank you, Dio."

* * *

Another day with no good jobs coming Dio's way.

He was beginning to run out of places to search, and he knew that if he was unsuccessful in the next few days, he would have to go further out, into even more dangerous parts of the city.

Sighing, he walked home as the streetlights began to flicker on. It was getting colder and colder, a sign that winter was on its way. The city wasn't usually so quiet, especially at night, when the real criminals crawled out of the woodworks.

But at this point, they knew better than to come after Dio.

He'd proven himself more than once in the past few weeks.

As he walked home that day, he held a cream in his pocket, one he'd gotten from an Asian medicine seller, who'd said it was good for bruises. He figured that he'd stop at Ava's apartment and give it to her to help with the marks before heading home.

It would be a good night.

He'd be able to make good on his promise from two years prior to help someone he actually considered a friend, the first he'd made in his life, he'd also be able to go home and help his mother, help nurse her back to health, and he'd be able to avoid seeing his drunken, abusive father and Ava's drunken, abusive uncle, since both would be at the pub probably until the early hours of the morning.

But as he approached his own home, he saw the light in his mother's bedroom on.

 _It's late. She should be asleep._

Something was very wrong. Dio could feel it in his gut. The longer he stared at the light in the window, the more off it seemed.

Panic settled into his stomach.

Forgetting about the bruise cream he'd procured from the medicine seller, the one he'd purchased with what little pocket money he had for the only friend he had in this world, he ran towards his own home, practically knocking in his door, praying that nothing bad had happened to the only family he had.

"Mother?" he called, hoping he would hear her soft, gentle voice answer him.

Only his own voice, echoing throughout the empty, dark house, replied.

He crept through the house, truly unable to fight the feeling that something very bad had happened in the hours he was gone. His footsteps caused creaks to emit from the old planks of the rundown apartment, which only unsettled him even further.

Light shone from the door that led to his mother's bedroom, where she'd been laid up since the early morning. He approached, knocking loudly.

Once again, there was no response.

"Mother? Open up, please." Desperation filled his voice as she refused to answer. "Is something wrong?!"

He tried the doorknob, but it just jiggled.

Panic filled his entire heart as he realized the door was locked. He furiously turned the knob, his entire body filling with strength.

"Mother!"

He began to toss his entire body against the bedroom door. It shook, but didn't give. He kept doing so, yelling for his mother to answer all the while. After what felt like an eternity, the door broke off its hinges, and Dio fell through the doorframe, falling to his knees as he landed in his mother's bedroom.

His eyes widened as his entire world came to a halt.

* * *

A furious knocking on Ava's front door came at around midnight.

She'd finally been able to get some sleep, thanks to her uncle not being home for once. Her arm and chest had been aching, but they weren't as bad as they were in the morning. It hurt as she tumbled off the couch, landing ungracefully on the floor.

"C-coming!" she shouted as she scrambled to stand and reach the door.

At the door was Dio Brando, looking, for once, terrified, devastated.

His eyes were filled with tears as he stared down at the much smaller girl, his chest heaved as he struggled to breathe. He choked back tears as he saw her, rubbing at his eyes furiously.

"Dio?" she asked, her voice wavering in worry. "What's happening, Dio?"

She stepped forwards, and, almost immediately, Dio pulled her into his arms, wrapping them around her and holding her as tightly as possible. Her eyes widened, but when she felt his entire body shaking against hers and heard the soft sobs that he was trying to hide from her, she softened quickly.

Wrapping her arms around him in return, she held him. Both arms went around his neck, one hand running through his blond hair. His arms tightened around her smaller figure as he sunk to the ground, taking her with him.

"She's dead, Ava," he managed through his sobs. "My mother's dead."

Almost as soon as those words left his mouth, Ava felt tears in her own eyes. Dio's mother was the closest thing she'd had to a parent since her own passed, and her weakness had been stressful to both of them, but they'd both had hope that she'd recover. Dio had done everything possible to help her, but to no avail.

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered to him, holding her head close to his.

Dio began sobbing fully, openly, showing a deep sadness that he held for the first time since Ava had known him. She cried, too, silently, while she held him tightly and tried to support him with what little strength she had.

Nothing was ever the same after that night.

* * *

When the police came to investigate after Ava and Dio informed them, they ruled her death a suicide.

There was no argument.

Not when she left behind a letter to her only son, the true light of her life, and held an empty bottle of painkillers into death.


	4. part i, chapter iii

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure  
Bloody Sunday  
Chapter 03:Part I, Chapter III

Dio was never the same after his mother's death.

He actively blamed his father for overworking his mother, which lead to her suicide, and began to rebel against him.

A darkness overtook Dio's heart after his mother died.

He only cared about two things after she was gone. One was his own life, something he was unwilling and unprepared to let go of. His mother had always taught him that he would grow up to be a better man than anyone else in the world. He was determined to see that through in her memory.

The other was Ava.

If he stopped caring, she would die. And she was the only thing he had left that he could truly call his own in a world that had betrayed him, taken away the only real family he'd ever had, and left him with a man who cared only for his alcohol consumption and how much money he had in the bank.

He rarely left Ava alone anymore. He'd practically forced her to move in with him, living in his room with him, and swore that he'd protect her from anyone who ever even attempted to touch her anymore.

For a little while, it worried Ava.

"Dio, you know I can take care of myself, don't you?" she asked him one night as he brought her tea before she went to sleep. "I'm not incapable of doing simple things like this."

He sat at the foot of what was once his bed after placing the tea next to her on the nightstand. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "I know. But I don't want you to have to." He looked at her, his golden eyes sparkling with determination. "I'm going to make sure you never have to want for anything. Ever."

Ava frowned. "Dio…" she began.

He didn't particularly want to hear it. Standing sharply, he practically snapped, "Drink your tea before it gets cold." He began to storm towards the door, but a small voice stopped him.

"Dio." He looked back at the girl, who was sitting up and staring at him with narrowed eyes. "Don't do anything dangerous. Alright?"

His fists curled and his heart jumped.

The way she looked at him was like she already knew exactly what he was planning. It was like she had seen right through all the secrecy, but he knew that she couldn't have. He had ensured that she'd never find out what he was planning, and ensured that she would never be able to be blamed for what he was going to do.

With a huff of air, he turned around and away from her.

"Why would I ever do anything to put myself in danger?" he asked snidely, an over-confident smirk on his face.

Her eyes only narrowed further.

* * *

Two years had passed since Dio's mother had died.

Over those two years, Dario Brando had fallen ill with some unknown illness - and then had gotten progressively sicker and sicker. Dio, tasked with looking over his father in his illness, was neglecting his father's health in some sort of twisted revenge.

While some knew and refused to acknowledge what Dio was doing, Ava was not one of those people.

He worked for years to hide his revenge plan from her and keep her in the dark. He had sworn that he'd make life good for both of them, so they'd never have to want for anything ever again. After he failed to help his mother, to make life better for the two of them, he focused his goal on Ava instead.

"Dio," she began one day, her voice soft as she sat on his bed while he read a book in his chair, "why are you working so hard with your studying and now with your job? Is it to get out of here and live a better life in the city?"

He closed his book and looked at her, his golden eyes burning with ambition. "Yes. It's to get the two of us out of here and to a place that we both deserve to be in," he replied.

"Dio…"

"I'm going to give both of us a better life," he declared loudly, with such confidence that Ava began to believe him.

With a bittersweet smile, she nodded. "I'm sure you can do that."

He smirked a bit, pride swelling within him at her belief in him.

* * *

Dio took a job at a nearby factory after an unfortunate accident had caused one of their workers to pass. He was quick to pick up on his job and on nearly everything else that happened in the factory, using his brilliance to his advantage as he worked easily, earning money that he saved in order to keep his promise to Ava.

As he worked hard to do so, he kept her with him, living with him in his apartment, barely going back to her uncle's anymore.

Her uncle didn't particularly care. He still knew that she was within arm's reach if he "needed" her. Sometimes, he called upon her to go back to his apartment.

The first time he did so, Dio was out, working a shift the factory. He returned home that night to find Ava missing, with only a note she'd left behind. It had been from her uncle, who'd demanded she return to the apartment next door to "help him with some of her family's effects."

Panicked and confused as to why she would return to a man who'd abused her, who'd hurt her, Dio immediately ran next door, practically pulled the door off its hinges, and ran inside, only to find Ava huddled on the ground.

The top of her dress had been torn in two. Her bare shoulders had bruising on them, ones that were slowly turning an angry purple. She hugged her legs against her chest to hide her bare skin, and he could see her entire figure shaking as she let out soft, almost silent sobs as she buried her face in her knees.

"Ava…" He breathed out her name.

She flinched, but slowly looked up. Upon seeing Dio, she let out a loud wail of grief as she buried her face even further into her legs, like she was trying to hide from him.

"Don't look!"

Her voice was muffled, but he knew what she was saying.

Stunned by her disheveled appearance and the tears he saw streaming down her face, he stumbled through the apartment.

"What happened to you?" He shrugged his jacket off, moving to wrap it around her bare torso. Pulling her arms and legs away from her chest, his eyes widened as he saw more bruises on her stomach and breasts. "Did… did your uncle do this to you?"

She sniffed weakly, refusing to look him in the eye. She merely nodded, her movement slow and hesitant.

"Did he…" Dio trailed off, almost not wanting to know the answer. "Did he touch you?"

Another nod.

"Sexually?"

Hesitation, but another nod.

"He… he raped you?"

Her only response was to sob as loudly as possible, her entire body shaking beneath Dio's jacket. His hands shook with both fury and worry, halted in midair as he fought an internal war on whether or not he should reach out and hug her.

"Dio… please take me home," she murmured, looking down at her hands that sat in her lap. Her hair fell in her face as he nodded, knowing what she meant.

 _Home._

To the two of them, home was a place that they could be safe in. It was a place that no one could hurt them, and that they could have the things that they needed, the people that they needed, right next to them.

Home, to Ava, was with Dio.

And home, to Dio, was with Ava.

"Come on," he demanded, helping lift her to her feet. "Let's go."

Looking back at the apartment, Dio cursed the beaten-down building. He cursed the man who owned it, who inhabited it, for hurting the only person left in the world that he cared about. That man had stolen what little freedom Ava, at only eleven, had.

"Dio… I can't… I can't go back there…" she managed as he helped her limp back to his - to their - apartment.

He tightened his hold on her, glad that she didn't flinch under his touch. "Don't worry. You'll never have to go back there. I'll make sure of it," he vowed, narrowing his eyes as glared at the ground, hatred for the world that had conspired against him igniting a fire in his chest.

Ava's head fell as they reached their apartment, a small, sad smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she continued to cry quietly.

"Thank… you…"

* * *

Dario Brando got sicker and sicker as Dio and Ava grew older.

By the time that Dio had hit thirteen and Ava turned twelve, Dario's condition had taken a turn for the worse. Doctors, confused as to why the medicine that they'd been providing the Brando family with wasn't working, informed Dio that his father probably only had a few months left to live. The illness had spread too far, and the only thing that they could do at this point was to take away some of the pain that the sickness would cause.

Ava was no longer allowed near Dario, especially after he'd thrown a bottle of mead at her, nearly injuring her, when she tried to help him nearly a year prior. No one else had been in the house to help, as Dio had been out, gambling for extra money at the nearby pub. She'd only been trying to help, but Dario hadn't taken lightly to her "butting her way into his business" and had reacted with violence.

When he came home, Dio had forbidden her after the incident, telling her that she was not to enter Dario's room without him present.

"But Dio, your father-!"

"Is dying," he finished, cutting her off sternly. "Just like he deserves."

She froze for a second, staring up at him in confusion. "No one deserves to die like that," she muttered softly, looking at him with pain and sorrow written all over her small face.

Dio shook his head, disagreeing with her almost instantly. "My father does." He looked down at her, gently holding her by the shoulders and staring at her with such intensity that she found herself agreeing. "He deserves to rot for what he did to my mother."

"Your mother…"

"She worked hard to keep us in this house. To keep us fed." He turned and pointed towards the locked door that led to his father's bedroom. "That monster took everything she worked so hard for and used it for himself - for his only real love in this world!" he spat, disgust lacing every word.

Ava shook in his grasp, and his eyes widened as he looked down at her.

For the first time since he'd known her, he caught a glimpse of fear when she stared at him.

She was fearful of lots of things. Her uncle was the most obvious example. But she'd never looked at Dio in the same way.

"Dio, you're scaring me," she voiced what he already had seen on her face, her voice wavering.

He pulled away from her, letting his hands drop to his sides. He took a deep breath, standing up straight. As he exhaled, he looked back down at her, to where she was wringing her hands from the stress he'd placed on her.

Gently pulling the much smaller girl into a hug, he whispered in her ear, "Sorry. I won't do it again."

He could feel her entire body relax, all tension seeping from her, as she practically melted into one of his rare hugs.

"Thank you."

* * *

Dio stopped mentioning his hatred for his father - at least to Ava - but he didn't stop his slow, painful poisoning of his father's food, drink, and medicine.

It was another two months before Dario Brando passed.

Before he died, he'd passed Dio a letter, with the name "George Joestar" written on it in his father's familiar scrawl, and had instructed him to go to the Joestar manor after mailing it, claiming that the man of the house owed him a favor.

In his weakened state, Dario still only thought of fortune. "You're smart, aren't you?! Become the world's richest man, no matter what!" he'd demanded.

Although Dio didn't want to do as his father, who'd only ever loved money, told him to, he knew that the Joestars were his best chance at having a better life - of making a good future for Ava.

So, he took the letter and mailed it, with the hope of something more coming his way.

Dio didn't cry at the funeral, which only consisted of him and Ava. No one came to mourn such a horrible man, not that Dio blamed them. He only mourned his wretch of a father because he had to. That man was his flesh and blood, whether he liked it or not.

And Dio hated it.

As soon as his father passed, Dio received a reply from the Joestar family.

 _Dio Brando,_

 _My name is George Joestar, although I'm sure you're already well aware of that. Your father saved my life and the life of my son, many years ago._

 _I'm sorry to hear of your father's passing. I offer my sincerest condolences. I'd also like to reply to your request to live in my home with my family. It would be a sudden change, but I owe you and your father that much._

 _My house is open to you whenever you choose. Please send a letter a week in advance, and I will have a place prepared for you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _George Joestar_

Less than two weeks later, he was packed up, all of his belongings in a single suitcase.

But Ava was unable to go with him.

Actually, it was more like she refused when he'd offered, trying to explain that the noble Joestar family wouldn't take her in, even as a charity case.

"Why not?!" he'd demanded when she'd told him that it probably wasn't smart to bring her along with him. His hands shook and curled into fists as he fought his rage at the idea of leaving Ava behind. "They have to accept you if I bring you!"

"Dio, they owe _your_ family," she tried to explain. "They don't owe me anything, and they'll probably refuse to take me in. Just because we're in the same situation doesn't mean they can do much for me."

"But-!"

She grabbed onto his fist, holding it in both of hers. "Dio." She looked up at him, everything on her face begging him to understand what she was saying. "Noble families see us as lower class, and unworthy. _You_ are an exception, and _you_ have been given a chance to get out of here. Please, take it. Even if I can't come with you."

"I'm not leaving you here," he protested, unclenching his fist and wrapping his fingers around one of her hands. "You won't have anywhere to stay."

She hesitated. "My uncle," she began slowly, "has offered me my room back. I… I've decided to accept." She looked down, squeezing his hand, like she already knew how he was going to react to the news.

As expected, Dio's face hardened.

"No."

She smiled sadly. "You taught me how to handle myself," she whispered, looking down at their entwined hands. "I'll be okay. I want this for you." Glancing back up at him with a smile, he found himself unable to refuse.

He attempted, though. "But…"

Squeezing his hand once again, she cut him off. "Just promise me that you'll come back for me… when everything settles." There was desperation in her voice.

Dio nodded almost immediately.

"I promise."


	5. part i, chapter iv

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure  
Bloody Sunday  
Chapter 04: Part I, Chapter IV

Dio hated Jonathan, the goody-two-shoes son of George Joestar, the instant he met him.

The boy was too open, too friendly, as he invited Dio into his home and tried to introduce him to the dog he owned, some mutt named Danny.

Dio had never met a dog that was kind. His first instinct was to kick the mutt square in the jaw, and he reveled in the horrified cries that came from Jonathan after Dio attacked his beloved pet. He quickly noted that Jonathan was quick to fight perceived injustices, and he knew that pinning anything on the boy would be only too easy for someone as smart as Dio.

He would enjoy making Jonathan hate him.

It would be the best excuse for why Jonathan was capable of hatred and violence later in life.

* * *

The manor was easy to settle into.

Within days, Dio had already begun to terrorize Jonathan, beginning to execute his plan of becoming rich by "any means necessary," just like his father had asked of him.

He'd ensured that Jonathan knew that he wouldn't lay down and take disrespect from him, even if Jonathan hadn't intended to do so. He'd already begun to ruin his reputation by physically defeating Jonathan in fights, both public and private, and called him a snitch, however indirectly. He'd even begun to win Joestar senior's respect by being smarter than him, by having better manners than him, and by being stronger both mentally and physically.

Jonathan - or JoJo, as most called him - was unable to take it.

Isolated from those he formerly thought of as friends, Jonathan began to break down, leaving him vulnerable to Dio's later attacks.

Dio couldn't help the sick sense of satisfaction that had come over him, knowing that the noble-bred punk who lacked tact and subtlety was getting knocked down a peg or two, and feeling the same sort of misery that Dio had been raised in.

But still, this thrill of ruining Jonathan couldn't distract him from the horrid place he'd left Ava in.

He was sure that where she stayed was worse than what he was doing to JoJo.

 _So,_ he figured, _why feel bad at all? He hasn't experienced hardship like this._

He supposed that ruining Jonathan Joestar now would make it easier to finish the job when the time came.

* * *

Dio terrorized Jonathan for months.

He stole everything from the younger boy, including the first kiss of a pretty girl named Erina Pendleton, who just so happened to be the object of Jonathan's affections. He stole respect, social status, and even some of Jonathan's belongings.

When Jonathan had attempted to retaliate by beating Dio into submission, Dio had taken it a step further.

For all it was worth, he was sure Danny had deserved it.

The mutt had squealed when Dio threw him into the incinerator. He'd flailed, like he was begging for his life, but Dio showed no mercy. If it wasn't enough to take away Jonathan's allies outside of the house, he knew that he'd have to isolate Jonathan inside of his own house in order to fully break him.

Even if Jonathan was able to stand up to Dio physically, he wouldn't be able to stand against severe psychological torment for very long.

No one was.

* * *

Months turned into years, and, for Jonathan, the grudge was eventually dropped.

He began to accept Dio, who'd calmed in the two years that they lived together, and had come to see him as an annoying older brother.

Dio, meanwhile, was becoming progressively more stable, more aware of his own anger. But he never truly lost sight of revenge. He watched as George Joestar, the man who'd come to see Dio as a son, aged into an older man, in only two years, and knew that his plan would have to begin soon.

Throughout the two years of being primed into becoming a "gentleman," Dio never forgot his roots.

He'd never been able to go back to the slums in those two years. That was, perhaps, his biggest regret. The things he'd left behind in his home - which was probably gone by now - were things he didn't particularly care about.

It was the person he'd left to suffer in the slums that he cared for.

After the first year, he realized that his existence as a noble, or even as a foster child to a noble, was a lonely existence. There was no one who really knew him, who bothered to even try to get to know him. There were only children who were desperate to become as good as he was and learn from how Dio had conquered the heir of the Joestar family.

The only person left in the world who cared about him was stuck in the one place he never wanted to go back to.

But he'd go back to ensure her safety.

"Dio." He looked up at George, who was staring intently at him. "Your birthday is coming up. Is there anything you want?"

He paused, his fingers curling around his fork. Gritting his teeth, he thought about the only thing he wanted that the Joestars could not provide for him.

"I want to go back to the slums for a day," he admitted. "There's someone there who I want to bring back with me."

George's eyes widened marginally, but he quickly regained his composure, coughing into his napkin. "Someone you'd like to bring back? As in… you'd like to give them a home here?" he asked lowly.

Dio nodded almost hesitantly. "She has nowhere else to go. She helped me get out of the slums, and I just left her there. It's been two years. I can't just leave her there."

The older man's eyes softened. He cleared his throat again. "Jonathan. How would you feel about a young woman coming to live with us?" His question clearly threw his biological son off guard, as he stared with wide eyes between his father and his surrogate brother.

"Um… I'd be fine with it," he replied easily. "I agree with Dio, father. She shouldn't have to be left alone in the slums."

George nodded, like he was proud of his son's answer. He turned back to Dio, whose eyes were glittering with barely contained excitement, hope that he could return to his origins to find the person who meant the most to him.

"Very well. Prepare for a trip tomorrow, Dio. I would accompany you, but I have work I must take care of. I trust you'll be able to take care of yourself?" he asked, looking worried about sending Dio off on his own.

The boy only nodded. "I've always been able to," he admitted.

* * *

The slums hadn't changed much in two years.

Dio's old home had long since been occupied by new tenants, but he didn't particularly care to know who. He wanted nothing to do with the wretched home that he grew up in, especially after all the bad memories that he'd lived through since the time he was a child.

Walking past his former home, Dio sped up, hurrying away from the carriage that carried him from the Joestar manor. The door of Ava's apartment hadn't changed.

He rapped his fist against the wood of the door.

"Ava?" he called, loudly enough to be heard. "Are you in there?"

There was no response from the inside of the apartment.

Dio, pulling out his pocket watch, frowned. Usually, Ava would be around at this time. He put his watch back in his coat and knocked on the door again, loudly and harshly. When there was still no answer, he quickly pushed inside, noting that the door was unlocked, just as her uncle usually left it.

The apartment was dark, barely illuminated by the sunlight that streamed through the open doorway. It smelled like alcohol and sweat, the stench infesting the entirety of the one room apartment. It made Dio's lip curl in disgust, and he nearly wanted to back out and into the street.

He didn't, though. He still had someone important to find.

"Ava?"

As he stepped through the pitch black room, he nearly tripped several times, his feet catching on some of the overturned furniture. He cursed under his breath as the stench grew stronger the further into the apartment he ventured.

A soft whimper caught his attention when he passed the bed.

"Ava? That's you, isn't it?"

He could hear movement and a soft, breathy voice ask, "Dio… Is that you…?"

His heart fell into his stomach.

He knew that it was Ava who was speaking, but her voice was more mature, lower, than when he'd last seen her.

 _There's a light near the bed._

A flicker of a memory came back to him and, in his haste, he nearly tripped as he lunged for the nightstand. His fingers wrapped around a lightswitch, one that would turn the oil lamp on, and he quickly turned it on.

The room quickly lit up, so quickly that Dio pulled back.

He tried to gain his bearings as he turned back to Ava, but he was unable to the moment he laid eyes on her.

Her figure was naked beneath the thin sheet that had been spread over her chest to her upper thighs. What skin he could see was covered in scars and bruises. Her arms and her feet had caked blood on them, the soles of her feet nearly covered in dirt and blood. Her silver hair, now long, was messy and unkempt, filled with dirt and grease, like she hadn't been able to get herself clean for months.

It was when she looked at him that his heart truly stopped, struck by sorrow and rage.

Her eyes, once a deep, vibrant, crystalline blue, were devoid of their spark and their life. She looked blank, like everything that had made her a human being was gone from them. They were simply dull.

But a small smile tugged at her lips as she reached out to him with a shaking hand.

"You kept… your promise…" she managed through her weakness.

Dio, snapping out of his thoughts, grabbed onto her hand and fell forwards, towards the bed where Ava lay, broken and beaten. He pushed her tangled, grimy hair from her face, cupping it in his hand.

"I did," he replied. "I came back for you."

He helped pull her into a sitting position. As he did, the sheet fell into a heap on her lap, and Dio gaped at the magnitude of the damage done to her chest and stomach. Her chest was scarred all over, and her stomach was sunken in.

Tearing his eyes away from her, he quickly pulled away, glancing around the room and searching for something to cover her with.

Grabbing a shirt he was sure belonged to her uncle, he pulled it around her. "Come on, get dressed. We're leaving here," he demanded lowly, hating how he could feel the deep scars on her back, even through the fabric of the shirt.

"Where… where are we going?"

He found a suitcase in the back of the closet and, not caring if it was Ava's or her uncle's, opened it and began throwing clothing into it. He grabbed photos out of their shattered frames and tucked them gently into the suitcase, as well.

"You're coming back to the Joestar manor with me," he informed her. "It was my wish to take you back with me. And you're going to be safe there, I promise."

A small smile came over her face, and she began to cry silently in relief.

"I'm… so glad…"

* * *

It had probably been quite a sight for the Joestars.

Dio Brando, the cold and solitary boy who'd inhabited their lives for the past two years, sliding out of a carriage in front of the manor, reaching his arms out to help someone down, and carrying the weakened, fragile figure that had come with him.

The girl, with long, silver hair, was nothing but a small pile of skin and bones in Dio's arms, with bruises and scars covering her probably once pale, beautiful skin.

She clung to the front of Dio's jacket like it was her lifeline, which, in her defense, it practically was. She had refused to look at Jonathan or George as they hurried down to see who it was that Dio had brought back with him. Their voices had caused Ava to begin trembling in fear, her fists curled around the fabric of Dio's coat, her grip tightening in fear.

"Dio, is this your friend?" George asked gently after he silenced Jonathan.

The girl, hearing the man's gentle voice, pulled her face away from Dio's chest for a brief moment. Dio looked down, a look of gentleness on his face like no one in the Joestar house had ever seen before.

"Yes. She's who I brought back with me."

Jonathan couldn't help but stare at the weakened girl, who looked as if she hadn't been fed properly in a long time.

She turned to look at him, and his eyes widened. Her eyes were blue, just like the ocean. They were a bit tired, but he could tell that they were beautiful with a spark of life inside of them.

"I'm Jonathan Joestar," he introduced himself gently. "But everyone calls me JoJo. What can I call you?"

She looked up at Dio, like she was asking him for permission to speak. Dio just nodded back at her, the kindness in his eyes slightly unnerving Jonathan, who'd never seen Dio be anything but cruel or cold.

"Ava," she replied. Her throat sounded dry, and her voice came out hoarse. "Ava Shelley."

All of the children in the room missed the way George's face filled with recognition of her name.

Jonathan smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Ava. We have a room all prepared for you. I hope you'll like it here." He paused, looking up to Dio briefly, then back to Ava. "Is there anything I can get you to eat?" he asked.

She hesitated again, but this time, Dio answered for her.

"Please get her something that isn't too strongly flavored. Soup and bread would probably be the best." He looked to George and asked, "Can we get a doctor to look at her? I think I know what happened, but I want a professional to look at her."

George nodded to a servant, who quickly exited the main hall, presumably to get the girl food, then to another servant, who walked over to the phone and quickly dialed. He then looked back to Dio and gestured the butler forwards.

"Please show Dio and his guest, Miss Shelley, to her room. Please take her bags, too."

The butler bowed to his master, and quickly retrieved the suitcase that sat near the front doors. He moved past Dio and towards the stairs, which Dio followed him up, Ava tucked safely into his arms as she buried herself in his chest.

Jonathan watched the two with a sudden new respect for Dio welling up inside of him.

George placed a knowing hand on his son's shoulder as he began walking towards the exit of the room. Jonathan looked up at his father, watching the older man leave, then returned his gaze to Dio, who was following the butler and whispering a soft promise to Ava.

 _Maybe he's not so bad._


End file.
